Zakir Naik is renowned the world over, and revered by Muslims, for confronting Christianity, debating Christian apologists, and making numerous converts to Islam. He is respected by Muslims all over the world for his encyclopedic knowledge of Islam. Yet now his aide has been arrested for recruiting for the Islamic State. How could this misunderstanding of Islam have made its way even into the offices of a man who has dedicated his life to understanding Islam properly and communicating it effectively? No Western authorities who insist that Islam is a religion of peace that has nothing to do with terrorism are likely to ponder the implications of that question. But they should.
“Mumbai: Zakir Naik’s ‘aide’ arrested for trying to lure Kerala youth to join Isis,” by Asmita Sarkar, International Business Times, July 22, 2016 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
The Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) and Kerala police arrested on Wednesday an alleged aide of Islamic preacher Zakir Naik for recruiting youth from Kerala for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis), reports said on Friday.
If the accused Arshid Qureshi’s membership to Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) is confirmed, it would be the first arrest of a member of Naik’s organisation. Naik and his organisation IRF has been under the watch of security and intelligence authorities since terrorists who killed 20 people at a cafe in Dhaka on July 1 said that they were inspired by him….
Ebin Jacob, the brother of one of the missing women, Merin aka Mariam, had accused her husband, Bestin Vincent aka Yahia, and Qureshi for attempting to convert him to Islam and force him to join Isis. Jacob had gone to Mumbai with Bestin to meet Qureshi.
The police charged Qureshi and Vincent with Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) after Jacob’s statement.
As per the statement, Qureshi insisted that Ebin should embrace Islam and join IS. It was Bestin who compelled Ebin to come to Mumbai and meet Qureshi,” Ernakulam ACP KV Vijayan, the investigating officer, had said.
However, Jacob returned from Mumbai as he was not convinced with Qureshi’s arguments about Islam being the superior religion.
At least 21 people from Kerala who went missing earlier this month are believed to have joined the Isis. Apart from Merin, another girl, Nimisha, who was a Hindu, was reportedly forcibly converted to Islam.